Government backs Greens on Opal fuel push

The legislation will put more pressure on petrol stations to sell low-aromatic, or Opal fuel, in areas where sniffing is a problem and make laws consistent across the nation.

ABC News/Cathy Harper

The Federal Government says it will support a Greens bill, which aims to crack down on petrol sniffing across northern and central Australia.

The legislation will put more pressure on petrol stations to sell low-aromatic, or Opal fuel, in areas where sniffing is a problem and make laws consistent across the nation.

Labor had previously said it would not support the bill but says it will now propose "significant amendments".

The Opposition is against the legislation.

Northern Territory Country Liberals Senator Nigel Scullion has expressed disappointment at what he has described as a backflip by the Government.

Senator Scullion has told the Senate the law won't work because it relies on the Corporations Act and won't apply to petrol stations run as partnerships or by sole traders.

"We should not offer a second-class solution to our first Australians," he said.

Territory Senator Trish Crossin says having the power to mandate Opal fuel in some communities is not a total fix to the high number of people addicted to sniffing.

She says she supports any moves to reduce the problem but this bill should not be confused as the only solution.

"There are still many years ahead of us to make sure we turn off the tap to regular unleaded petrol and just put Opal out there," she said.

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert says her Low Aromatic Fuel Bill will stop some Indigenous communities from falling through the cracks.

"It is where the gaps in the roll-out of non-sniffable fuel happen where we get the outbreaks of petrol sniffing," she said.

The spokesperson for an organisation that deals with the impacts of petrol sniffing in Central Australia has welcomed the Government's decision to back the bill.

Blair McFarlane from the Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service says while the bill is good news, he also hopes that states and territories will adopt further anti-petrol sniffing measures that the Territory already has in place.

"The bill is great ... it allows you to mandate Opal," he said.

"In the Territory we also have got the ability to send sniffers off to compulsory rehabilitation, the police have powers to take (away) inhalants, there's protection for people who dob in sniffers.

"There's a whole raft of extra powers that exist in the Northern Territory."